The history of beverages reveals a fascinating evolution from our earliest days when humans primarily consumed water. Despite the modern variety of drinks, milk and beer stand out as two of the...
In ancient Rome, the dining habits of its citizens varied significantly based on social class. While the wealthy dined luxuriously at home, the poor often lacked basic cooking facilities in their...
The evolution of fermentation traces back millions of years, intertwined with the dietary habits of our primate ancestors . As they foraged on the forest floor, scavenging fallen fruits, they...
The Vikings stand as legendary figures, their exploits on the seas and battlefields shrouded in myth and mystery. Yet beyond their tales of conquest and exploration lies a lesser-known aspect of...
In the Golden Age of Piracy , pirates embraced a ritualistic affair with tobacco alongside their famed rum-filled punch bowls. Amid the dangers and monotony of 17th-century life, tobacco became a...
In the quest to uncover the everyday lives of ancient civilizations, archaeologists have stumbled upon some fascinating finds. Among these intriguing artifacts are the beer pots of ancient Sumer ,...
In ancient Egypt , amidst the grandeur of pyramids and pharaohs, there existed a unique annual event—the Festival of Drunkenness . This mid-August celebration found its origins in Egyptian mythology...
Georgia boasts an unparalleled winemaking legacy, stretching back an astonishing eight millennia . Research reveals that this land birthed the art of winemaking, nurturing over 40 vineyards today...
Travis Rupp, far from being an ordinary brewmaster, delves into the past to recreate the tastes and textures of beers from ancient times. His ambition is to understand what the common folk, not just...
Scientists scoured through old brewing documents searching for the origins of lager yeast. They discovered it was created in 1602 AD, when a jealous duke raided a brewery, after its childless owner's...
Emlyn Dodd/The Conversation Recent excavations at the Villa of the Quintilii uncovered the remains of a unique winery just outside Rome. The mid-third-century AD building located along the Via Appia...
Humans have been making beer for thousands of years, but the oldest brewery still in existence wasn’t built until the 11th century. The Weihenstephan Brewery was founded in Freising, Germany in 1040...
The prehistoric yeast used in Europe’s first lagers has been discovered in Ireland. However, it wasn’t identified at an archaeological site, but in soil samples taken at an Irish university campus...
After a night of drinking, few things are worse than a heinous hangover. Or so I thought! For during the early modern era, heavy drinkers were faced with a far worse punishment. Those guilty of...
Archaeologists working at a Mexican holy site thought they were rediscovering a lost image of the Virgin Mary. But Mary never wore a feather plume, and seldom was she depicted within red circles. The...
We’ve all taken part in toasting rituals. At birthdays and weddings, in remembrance of loved ones or as a sign of respect, modern-day toasts range from a polite nod while wetting one’s lips to...
The Speyer wine bottle is the oldest known wine bottle in the world. Dated to 325 – 359 AD, the ancient wine has remained sealed in its bottle for nearly 1,700 years. Despite the fact that it would...
The Roman empire has historically been associated with wine and winemaking. Now more about just how they produced the beverage that was consumed by practically all in the nation, rich or poor, has...
When we hear the two words, “drugs” and “war,” used in the same sentence, we might think of the “War on Drugs” but what about drugs during war or drugs after war? Addictive drugs and armed warfare...
What were the important forces and factors that led to notable evolutionary leaps in Chinese culture more than 4,000 years ago? New research identifies one major cultural development that helped...
When Dr. Robert Dudley of the University of California, Berkeley, proposed a hypothesis in 2000, and then published a book called ‘ The Drunken Monkey: Why We Drink and Abuse Alcohol’ on the same...
An altered state of consciousness to rule an ancient empire? Not a plot of a television series or a fantasy novella, but a page out of the fascinating book that is human history. A new study...
Social drinking history in the Middle East has been rewritten with finds at Tel Tsaf, Israel. According to the Times of Israel , Israeli archaeologists have found the first evidence of social...
An ancient Finnish law promising harsher sentences for Christmas criminals was read out to an empty town square. Christmas is nearly upon us, and if you haven’t already outright cancelled family...